Boldly Five-Pin Bowling in Barrie!

Hi Blog! Today is Saturday, July 18, 2015. Our son, Matt, came up north to spend the weekend with us in our RV. The plan was for Matt to play a little golf in the morning then enjoy the camping life. However, Mother Nature failed to cooperate. Friday morning was foggy and soggy. What to do on a rainy vacation day? We tossed around a few ideas - casino, outlet shopping, museum, gallery, but settled on something a little more physical - BOWLING! We Googled about and found a bowling alley a few miles away in Barrie, Ontario. Here is Dave starting us off.

When we first arrived at the bowling alley, we approached the counter to request a lane. The clerk asked us if we wanted five-pin or ten-pin. Of course we wanted all 10 pins. Why would you bowl with only 5? Here is Kathy showing off her form.

As our game progressed, we noticed a large crowd at the far end of the bowling alley. It looked like they were throwing smaller balls. We began to wonder, if five-pin bowling was like duckpin bowling or candlepin bowling. We continue our musing as Mr. Matt prepared to make his spare!

The computer scoring system lets the whole alley know when you make a great shot!

Our curiosity got the better of us. After finishing two games of "regular" bowling, we decided to see if we could switch over to five-pin. Here is our first look at a five-pin lane. This is definitely not duckpin or candlepin. The pins look like they are cut in half!

We learned that five-pin bowling is played only in Canada. It was invented around 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Club, in response to customers who complained that the ten-pin game was too strenuous. He cut five tenpins down to about 75% of their size, and used hand-sized hard rubber balls, thus inventing the original version of five-pin bowling. Here is Dave showing off his balls.

Unlike any other form of bowling, the pins in five-pin bowling are worth different scoring point values, depending on their location in the V-formation. The centre pin is worth five points if knocked down, those on either side, three each, and the outermost pins, two each, giving a total of 15 in each frame. You get three tries to knock them down. Here is Matt working on his spin throw.

Having never played before, we had no idea how to score the game. Luckily, the electronic scoreboard was there to help. However, it kept throwing up letters like "L" "R" "A" and "H." We had to look them up.

"Aces" (A): taking out the headpin and both three pins but leaving the two corner pins. Also referred to as "bed posts" or "goal posts".

"Chop" or "chop-off" (denoted ℅): Hitting the headpin and the 3 and 2 pins on one side on the first ball, leaving the other 3 and 2 pins on the other side.

"Corner-pin": Leaving only the left corner pin or right corner pin standing on the first ball is denoted by an "L" or an "R" respectively on a score sheet.

"Headpin" (denoted H on a score sheet): punching the headpin on the first ball. The most dreaded result on the first ball as a "headpin-spare" is extremely difficult to achieve.

We still haven't figured out why Strikes are show with a backwards "Y" instead of an "X."

Five-pin balls have no finger holes. You cradle the ball in the palm of your hand like a softball. This gave Kathy the advantage over the boys since she grew up playing softball.

After two games of five-pin, we decided it was lunchtime. We looked for a recommendation from Yelp and settled on The Local Gastropub. They have 14 taps - all with local craft brews. However, Scott Connor, the owner and chef, does not disappoint in the food department either. Here we are enjoying our haggis lollipops with orange marmalade BBQ sauce.

Just down the street from the Gastropub is Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery. The stone entrance to the brewery is engraved:

IN HEAVEN THERE IS NO BEER

SO DRINK IT ALL WHILE YOU ARE HERE!

Flying Monkeys brews some of the highest-rated, most unconventional beers in Canada. We were very excited to learn this, since most beer in Canada is mass produced macro brews. We sampled a number of different styles. While Kathy would have loved to fill the trunk of Matt's car with all of their beer, we settled on two different beers:

The Matador: El Toro Bravo and imperial dark rye ale aged on spanish cedar and The Chocolate Manifesto - triple chocolate milk stout. We also bought two of each:  one for now and one to share with Ginny and Eric at the Albuquerque Balloon Fest.

By late afternoon, the rain subsided. We headed back to camp where we were able to grill sausages on the barbie, make a campfire and roast marshmallows.

Let's see - we learned a new game, ate new food and drank new beer. Just another day in the life of a full-time RVer. So, glad that Matt could share it with us. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.